tory answer which can be given to the inquiry; | and our tongues with praise. This is easy; this namely, that it is intended for a state of trial and is delightful. None but they who are sunk in probation. For it appears to me capable of proof, sensuality, sottishness, and stupefaction, or whose both that no state but one, which contained in it understandings are dissipated by frivolous puran admixture of good and evil, would be suited to suits; none but the most giddy and insensible can this purpose; and also that our present state, as be destitute of these sentiments. But this is not well in its general plan as in its particular proper- the trial or the proof. It is in the chambers of ties, serves this purpose with peculiar propriety. sickness; under the stroke of affliction; amidst A state, totally incapable of misery, could not the pinchings of want, the groans of pain, the be a state of probation. It would not be a state in pressures of infirmity; in grief, in misfortune; which virtue or vice could even be exercised at all through gloom and horror-that it will be seen -I mean that large class of virtues and vices, whether we hold fast our hope, our confidence, which we comprehend under the name of social our trust in God; whether this hope and confiduties. The existence of these depends upon the dence he able to produce in us resignation, acexistence of misery as well as of happiness in the quiescence, and submission. And as those dispoworld, and of different degrees of both; because sitions, which perhaps form the comparative pertheir very nature and difference consists in pro- fection of our moral nature, could not have been moting or preventing, in augmenting or diminish- exercised in a world of unmixed gratification, so ing, in causing, aggravating, or relieving the neither would they have found their proper office wants, sufferings, and distresses of our fellow-or object in a state of strict and evident retribucreatures. Compassion, charity, humanity, bene-tion; that is, in which we had no sufferings to volence, and even justice, could have no place in the world, if there were not human conditions to excite them; objects and sufferings upon which they might operate; misery, as well as happiness, which might be affected by them. submit to, but what were evidently and manifestly the punishment of our sins. A mere submis sion to punishment, evidently and plainly such, would not have constituted, at least would very imperfectly have constituted the disposition which we speak of, the true resignation of a Christian. It seems, therefore, to be argued, with very great probability, from the general economy of things around us, that our present state was meant for a state of probation; because positively it contains that admixture of good and evil which ought to be found in such a state to make it answer its purpose-the production, exercise, and improvement of virtue; and, because negatively, it could not be intended either for a state of absolute happiness, or a state of absolute misery, neither of which it is. Nor would, in my opinion, the purposes of trial be sufficiently provided for, by a state in which happiness and misery regularly followed virtue and vice; I mean, in which there was no happiness, but what was merited by virtue; no misery but what was brought on by vice. Such a state would be a state of retribution, not a state of probation. It may be our state hereafter; it may be a better state; but it is not a state of probation, it is not the state through which it is fitting we should pass before we enter into the other; for when we speak of a state of probation, we speak of a state in which the character may both be put to the proof, and also its good qualities be confirmed and strengthened, if not formed and produced, by having occasions presented in which they may be called forth and required. Now, beside that, the social qualities which have been mentioned would be very limited in their exercise, if there was no evil in the world but what was plainly a punishment, (for though we might pity, and even that would be greatly checked, we could not actually succour or relieve, without disturbing the execution, or arresting, as it were, the hand of justice;) beside this difficulty, there is another class of most important duties which would be in a great measure excluded. They are the severest, the sublimest, perhaps the most meritorious, of which we are capable; I mean patience and composure under distress, pain, and affliction; a steadfast keeping up of our confidence in God, and our dependence upon his final goodness, even at the time that every thing present is discouraging and adverse; and, what is no less difficult to retain, a cordial desire for the happiness and comfort of others, even then, when we are deprived of our own. I say, that the possession of this tem-pointed day of execution. The same consequence per is almost the perfection of our nature. But it would have ensued if death had followed any is then only possessed, when it is put to the trial: known rule whatever. It would have produced tried at all, it could not have been in a life made security in one part of the species, and despair in up only of pleasure and gratification. Few things another. The first would have been in the highare easier than to perceive, to feel, to acknowledge, est degree dangerous to the character; the second, to extol the goodness of God, the bounty of Pro-insupportable to the spirits. The same observavidence, the beauties of nature, when all things tion we are entitled to repeat concerning the two go well; when our health, our spirits, our circum-cases-of sudden death, and of death brought on stances, conspire to fill our hearts with gladness, by long discase. If sudden deaths never occurred, We may now also observe in what manner many of the evils of life are adjusted to this particular end, and how also they are contrived to soften and alleviate themselves and one another. It will be enough at present, if I can point out how far this is the case in the two instances, which, of all others, the most nearly and seriously affect us-death and disease. The events of life and death are so disposed, as to beget, in all reflecting minds, a constant watchfulness. "What I say unto you I say unto all, watch." Hold yourselves in a constant state of preparation. "Be ready, for you know not when your Lord cometh." Had there been assigned to our lives a certain age or period, to which all, or almost all, were sure of arriving: in the younger part, that is to say, in nine tenths of the whole of mankind, there would have been such an absolute security as would have produced, it is much to be feared, the utmost neglect of duty, of religion, of God, of themselves; whilst the remaining part would have been too much overcome with the certainty of their fate, would have too much resembled the condition of those who have before their eyes a fixed and ap those who found themselves free from disease would be in perfect safety; they would regard themselves as out of the reach of danger. With all apprehensions they would lose all seriousness and all restraint: and those persons who the most want to be checked and to be awakened to a sense of the consequences of virtue and vice, the strong, the healthy, and the active, would be without the greatest of all checks, that which arises from the constant liability of being called to judgment. If there were no sudden deaths, the most awful warning which mortals can receive would be lost: That consideration which carries the mind the most forcibly to religion, which convinces us that it is indeed our proper concern, namely, the precariousness of our present condition, would be done away. On the other hand, if sudden deaths were too frequent, human life might become too perilous: there would not be stability and dependence either upon our own lives or the lives of those with whom we were connected, suflicient to carry on the regular offices of human society. In this respect, therefore, we see much wisdom. Supposing death to be appointed as the mode (and some mode there must be) of passing from one state of existence to another, the manner in which it is made to happen, conduces to the purposes of warning and admonition, without overthrowing the conduct of human affairs. Many virtues are not only proved but produced by trials: they have properly no existence without them. "We glory," saith St. Paul, "in tribulation also, knowing that tribulation worketh patience, and patience experience, and experience hope." But of sickness we may likewise remark, how wonderfully it reconciles us to the thoughts, the expectation, and the approach of death; and how this becomes, in the hand of Providence, an example of one evil being made to correct another. Without question, the difference is wide between the sensations of a person who is condemned to die by violence, and of one who is brought gradually to his end by the progress of disease; and this dif ference sickness produces. To the Christian whose mind is not harrowed up by the memory of unrepented guilt, the calm and gentle approach of his dissolution has nothing in it terrible. In that sacred custody in which they that sleep in Christ will be preserved, he sees a rest from pain and weariness, from trouble and distress: Gradually withdrawn from the cares and interests of the world; more and more weaned from the pleasures of the body, and feeling the weight and pressure of its infirmities, he may be brought almost to desire with St. Paul to be no longer absent from Christ; knowing, as he did, and as he assures us, that "if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens." SERMON XXXIV. STATE. Whom we preach, warning every man, and teaching every man in all wisdom, that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus. Col. i. 28. Of sickness, the moral and religious use will be acknowledged, and, in fact, is acknowledged, by all who have experienced it; and they who have not experienced it, own it to be a fit state for the meditations, the offices of religion. The fault, I fear, is, that we refer ourselves too much to that state. We think of these things too little in health, because we shall necessarily have to think of them when we come to die. This is a great THE KNOWLEDGE OF ONE ANOTHER IN A FUTURE fault; but then it confesses, what is undoubtedly true, that the sick-bed and the death-bed shall inevitably force these reflections upon us. In that it is right, though it be wrong in waiting till the season of actual virtue and actual reformation be past, and when, consequently, the sick-bed and the death-bed can bring nothing but uncertainty, horror, and despair. But my present subject leads me to consider sickness, not so much as a preparation for death as the trial of our virtues; of virtues the most severe, the most arduous, perhaps the best pleasing to Almighty God; namely, trust and confidence in him under circumstances of discouragement and perplexity. To lift up the feeble hands and the languid eye; to draw and turn with holy hope to our Creator, when every comfort forsakes us, and every help fails; to feel and find in him, in his mercies, his promises, in the works of his providence, and still more in his word, and in the revelation of his designs by Jesus Christ, such rest and consolation to the soul as to stifle our complaints and pacify our murmurs; to beget in our hearts tranquillity and confidence in the place of terror and consternation, and this with simplicity and sincerity, without having, or wishing to have, one human witness to observe or know it,-is such a test and trial of faith and hope, of patience and devotion, as cannot fail of being in a very high degree well-pleasing to the Author of our natures, the guardian, the inspector, and the rewarder of our virtues. It is true in this instance, as it is true in all, that whatever tries our virtue strengthens and improves it. Virtue comes out of the fire purer and brighter than it went into it. THESE words have a primary and a secondary use. In their first and most obvious view, they express the extreme earnestness and anxiety with which the apostle Paul sought the salvation of his converts. To bring men to Jesus Christ, and, when brought, to turn and save them from their sins, and to keep them steadfast unto the end in the faith and obedience to which they were called, was the whole work of the great apostle's ministry, the desire of his heart, and the labour of his life: it was that in which he spent all his time and all his thought; for the sake of which he travelled from country to country, warning every man, as he speaks in the text, and exhorting every man, enduring every hardship and every injury, ready at all times to sacrifice his life, and at last actually sacrificing it, in order to accomplish the great purpose of his mission, that he might at the last day present his beloved converts perfect in Christ Jesus. This is the direct scope of the text. But it is not for this that I have made choice of it. The last clause of the verse contains within it, indirectly and by implication, a doctrine certainly of great personal importance, and, I trust, also of great comfort to every man who hears me. The clause is this, "That we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus:" by which I understand St. Paul to express his hope and prayer, that at the general | and fashion, in nature and substance, that "this judgment of the world, he might present to Christ corruptible shall put on incorruption;" what is the fruits of his ministry, the converts whom he now necessarily mortal and necessarily perishable, had made to his faith and religion, and might pre-shall acquire a fixed and permanent existence. sent them perfect in every good work. And if And this is agreeable to, or rather the same thing this be rightly interpreted, then it affords a mani- as, what our apostle delivers in another epistle, fest and necessary inference, that the saints in a where he teaches us, that "Christ shall change future life will meet and be known again to one our vile body, that it may be like his glorious another; for how, without knowing again his con- body;" a change so great, so stupendous, that he verts in their new and glorified state, could St. Paul justly styles it an act of omnipotence: "accorddesire or expect to present them at the last day? ing," says he, "to the mighty working, whereby My brethren, this is a doctrine of real conse- he is able to subdue all things to himself." Since, quence. That we shall come again to a new life; then, a great alteration will take place in the frame that we shall, by some method or other, be made and constitution of the bodies with which we shall happy, or be made miserable, in that new state, be raised, from those which we carry with us to according to the deeds done in the body, according the grave, it requires some authority or passage as we have acted and governed ourselves in this of Scripture to prove, that after this change, and world, is a point affirmed absolutely and positive-in this new state, we shall be known again to one ly, in all shapes, and under every variety of ex- another; that those who know each other on pression, in almost every page of the New Testa- earth, will know each other in heaven. I do alment. It is the grand point inculcated from the low, that the general strain of Scripture seems to beginning to the end of that book. But concern- suppose it; that when St. Paul speaks of the ing the particular nature of the change we are to spirits of just men made perfect," and of their undergo, and in what is to consist the employ- "coming to the general assembly of saints," it ment and happiness of those blessed spirits which seems to import that we should be known of are received into heaven, our information, even them, and of one another; that when Christ deunder the Gospel, is very limited. We own it is clares, "that the secrets of the heart shall be disEven St. Paul, who had extraordinary com- closed," it imports, that they shall be disclosed to munications, confessed, "that in these things we those who were before the witnesses of our acsee through a glass darkly." But at the same tions. I do also think that it is agreeable to the time that we acknowledge that we know little, we dictates of reason itself to believe, that the same ought to remember, that without Christ we should great God who brings men to life again, will have known nothing. It might not be possible, bring those together whom death has separated. in our own present state, to convey to us, by words, When his power is at work in this great dispenmore clear or explicit conceptions of what will sation, it is very probable that this should be a part hereafter become of us; if possible, it might not of his gracious design. But for a specific text, I be fitting. In that celebrated chapter, the 15th know none which speaks the thing more posiof 1st Corinthians, St. Paul makes an inquisitive tively than this which I have chosen. St. Paul, person ask, "How are the dead raised, and with you see, expected that he should know, and be what body do they come?" From his answer to known to those his converts; that their relation this question we are able, I think, to collect thus should subsist and be retained between them; and much clearly and certainly: that at the resurrec- with this hope he laboured and endeavoured, intion we shall have bodies of some sort or other: stantly and incessantly, that he might be able at that they will be totally different from, and greatly last to present them, and to present them perfect excelling, our present bodies, though possibly in in Christ Jesus. Now what St. Paul appeared some manner or other proceeding from them, as a to look for as to the general continuance, or rather plant from its seed: that as there exists in nature revival, of our knowledge of each other after a great variety of animal substances; one flesh of death, every man who strives, like St. Paul, to atman, another of beasts, another of birds, another tain to the resurrection of the dead, may expect, of fishes; as there exists also great differences in as well as he. the nature, dignity, and splendour of inanimate Having discoursed thus far concerning the artisubstances, "one glory of the sun, another of the cle of the doctrine itself, I will now proceed to moon, another of the stars;" so there subsist, like-enforce such practical reflections as result from it. wise, in the magazines of God Almighty's crea- Now it is necessary for you to observe, that all tion, two very distinct kinds of bodies, (still both which is here produced from Scripture concerning bodies,) a natural body and a spiritual body: that the resurrection of the dead, relates solely to the the natural body is what human beings bear about resurrection of the just. It is of them only that with them now; the spiritual body, far surpassing St. Paul speaks in the 15th chapter of 1st Cothe other, what the blessed will be clothed with rinthians. It is of the body of him, who is accepthereafter. "Flesh and blood," our apostle teaches, ed in Christ, that the apostle declares, that it is "cannot inherit the kingdom of God;" that is, is sown in dishonour, but raised in glory: sown in by no means suited to that state, is not capable of weakness, raised in power." Likewise, when he it. Yet living men are flesh and blood; the dead speaks, in another place, of "Christ's changing in the graves are the remains of the same: where- our vile bodies that they may be like his glorious fore to make all who are Christ's capable of en- body," it is of the body of Christ's saints alone, tering into his eternal kingdom, and at all fitted of whom this is said. This point is, I think, for it, a great change shall be suddenly wrought. agreed upon amongst learned men, and is indeed As well all the just who shall be alive at the very plain. In like manner, in the passage of the coming of Christ, (whenever that event takes text, and, I think, it will be found true of every place,) as those who shall be raised from the dead, other in which mankind knowing one another in shall, in the twinkling of an eye, be changed a future life is implied, the implication extends Bodies they shall retain still, but so altered in form only to those who are received amongst the 1 blessed. Whom was St. Paul to know? even those whom he was to present perfect in Christ Jesus. Concerning the reprobate and rejected, whether they will not be banished from the presence of God, and from all their former relations; whether they will not be lost, as to all happiness of their own, so to the knowledge of those who knew them in this mortal state, we have, from Scripture, no assurance or intimation whatever. One thing seems to follow with probability from the nature of the thing, namely, that if the wicked be known to one another in a state of perdition, their knowledge will only serve to aggravate their misery. the graves shall hear his voice, and shall come THESE Words are so important, that if Jesus Christ had never delivered any other, if he had come into the world and pronounced only this simple declaration, and proved the truth and certainty of it by the miracles which he wrought, he would have left enough to have guided his followers to everlasting happiness: he would have done more towards making mankind virtuous and happy, than all the teachers and all the wisdom, that ever appeared upon earth, had done before him. We should each and every one of us have owed more to him for this single piece of intelligence, than we owe to our parents, our dearest friend, or the best benefactor we have. This text to be imprinted upon his memory, and upon his heart: it is what the most simple can understand: it is what, when understood and believed, excels all the knowledge and learning in the universe: it is what we are to carry about with us in our thoughts; daily remember and daily reflect upon; remember not only at church, not only in our devotions, or in our set meditations, but in our business, our pleasures, in whatever we intend, plan, or execute, whatever we think about, or whatever we set about; remember, that "they that have done good, shall come unto the resurrection of life; they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation." What then is the inference from all this? Do we seek, do we covet earnestly to be restored to the society of those who were once near and dear to us, and who are gone before?-It is only by leading godly lives that we can hope to have this wish accomplished. Should we prefer, to all delights, to all pleasures in the world, the satisfac-is the poor man's creed. It is his religion: it is tion of meeting again in happiness and peace, those whose presence, whilst they were among us, made up the comfort and enjoyment of our lives? -It must be, by giving up our sins, by parting with our criminal delights and guilty pursuits, that we can ever expect to attain this satisfaction. Is there a great difference between the thought of losing those we love for ever; of taking at their deaths or our own an eternal farewell, never to see them more-and the reflection that we are about to be separated, for a few years at the longest, to be united with them in a new and better state of mutual existence? Is there, I say, a difference to the heart of man between these two things? and does it not call upon us to strive with redoubled endeavours, that the case truly may turn out so? The more and more we reflect upon the difference between the consequences of a lewd, unthinking, careless, profane, dishonest life, and a life of religion, sobriety, seriousness, good actions and good principles, the more we shall see the madness and stupidity of the one, and the true solid wisdom of the other. This is one of the distinctions. If we go on in our sins, we are not to expect to awaken to a joyful meeting with our friends, and relatives, and dear connexions. If we turn away from our sins, and take up religion in earnest, we may. My brethren, religion disarms even death. It disarms it of that which is its bitterness and its sting, the power of dividing those who are dear to one another. But this blessing, like every blessing which it promises, is only to the just and good, to the penitent and reformed, to those who are touched at the heart with a sense of its importance; who know thoroughly and experimentally, who feel in their inward mind and consciences, that religion is the only course that can end well; that can bring either them or theirs to the presence of God, blessed for evermore; that can cause them, after the toils of life and struggles of death are over, to meet again in a joyful deliverance from the grave; in a new and never ceasing happiness, in the presence and society of one another. SERMON XXXV. THE GENERAL RESURRECTION. Reflect what great things this short sentence contains. It teaches us, beyond contradiction, that all does not end here: that our happiness or misery is not over at our death; that a new state of things will begin with every one of us, and that in a short time. This point, I say, our Saviour proves beyond contradiction; and how he prove it? By healing the sick, by restoring sight to the blind, by raising the dead, by various astonishing and incontestible miracles; and above all, by coming himself to life again, after being three days dead and buried, he proved that God Almighty was with him; that he came from God; that he knew what passed in the other world; that he had God's own authority to say and promise this to mankind. Upon the faith and trust of this promise, we know that we shall rise again; all are equally assured of it, from the highest to the lowest. Wise and learned men thought indeed the same thing before; they concluded it to be so from probable argument and reasonings; but this was not like having it, as we have it, from God himself; or, what is just the same thing, from the mouth of a person, to whom God gave witness by signs and wonders, and mighty deeds. They were far short of our certainty, who did study it the deepest. There were but few who could study or comprehend it at all. Blessed be God, we are all informed, we are all, from the most learned to the most ignorant, made sure and certain of it. Having then this great doctrine secured, that we shall all come again into a new world and a new life, the next great point which every serious mind will turn to, the second grand question to be asked is, who are to be happy, and who will The hour is coming, in the which all that are in be miserable in that other state? The text satis fies us completely upon this head. You ask, who opportunities are too small and straitened to think shall come to the resurrection of life? The text of doing good.-You do not sufficiently reflect replies, they that have done good. Observe well, what doing good is. You are apt to confine the and never forget this answer. It is not the wise, notion of it to giving to others, and giving liberalthe learned, the great, the honoured, the professor ly. This, no doubt, is right and meritorious; but of this or that doctrine, the member of this church, it is certainly not in every man's power; comparaor the maintainer of that article of faith, but he tively speaking, it is indeed in the power of very that doeth good; he, of whatever quality or con- few. But doing good is of a much more general dition, who strives honestly to make his life of nature; and is in a greater or less degree practiservice to those about him; to be useful in his cable by all; for, whenever we make one human calling, and to his generation; to his family, to his creature happier or better than he would have neighbourhood, and, according to his ability, to been without our help, then we do good; and, his country, and to mankind" he that doeth when we do this from a proper motive, that is, good." All the rest, without this, goes for no- with a sense and a desire of pleasing God by doing thing: though he understand the things of religion it, then we do good in the true sense of the text, ever so well, or believe ever so rightly; though he and of God's gracious promise. Now let every cry, Lord, Lord; be he ever so constant and de-one, in particular, reflect, whether, in this sense, vout in his prayers, or talk ever so much, or so he has not some good in his power: some within well, or so earnestly for religion; unless he do his own doors, to his family, his children, his good; unless his actions, and dealings, and beha- kindred; by his labour, his authority, his example; viour come up to his knowledge and his discourse, by bringing them up, and keeping them in the correspond with his outward profession and belief, way of passing their lives honestly, and quietly, it will avail him nothing; he is not the man and usefully. What good more important, more to whom Jesus Christ hath promised in the text, practicable than this is? Again, something may that he shall come to the resurrection of life. The be done beyond our own household: by acts of issue of life and death is put upon our conduct tenderness and kindness, of help and compassion and behaviour; that is, made the test we are to be to our neighbours. Not a particle of this will be tried by. lost. It is all set down in the book of life; and happy are they who have much there. And again, if any of us be really sorry that we have not so much in our power as we would desire, let us remember this short rule, that since we can do little good, to take care that we do no harm. Let us show our sincerity by our innocence; that, at least, is always in our power. Again: When we read in Scripture, when we know from positive and undoubted authority, that misery and destruction, ruin, torment, and damnation, are reserved for some, it is surely the most natural, the most interesting of all inquiries, to know for whom.-The text tells us, "for them that have done evil.” Here let the timorous conscience take courage. It is not any man's errors, or ignorance; his want of understanding, or education, or ability, that will be laid to his charge at the day of judgment, or that will bring him into danger of the damnation which the Gospel threatens; it is having done evil; having wilfully gone about to disobey what he knew to be the will and command of his Creator, by committing mischief, and doing wrong and injury to his fellow-creatures. Let the bold and presumptuous sinner hear this text with fear and trembling. Let him who cares not what misery he occasions, what evil and harm he does, if he can but compass his purpose, carry his own end, or serve his wicked lusts and pleasures; let him, I say, be given to understand, what he has to look for; "he that doeth evil shall come to the resurrection of damnation;" this is absolute, final, and peremptory; here is no exception, no excuse, no respect of person or condition. They that have done good, shall come again unto the resurrection of life. But, alas! I hear you say, What good can I do? my means and my Finally, Let us reflect, that in the habitations of life are many mansions; rewards of various or ders and degrees, proportioned to our various degrees of virtue and exertion here. "He that soweth plenteously, shall reap plenteously." We can never do too much; never be too earnest in doing good; because every good action here will, we are certain, be an addition of happiness hereafter; will advance us to a better condition in the life to come, whatever be our lot or success in this. God will not fail of his promise. He hath commissioned his beloved Son to tell us, that they that have done good shall enter into the resurrection of life. Let us humbly and thankfully accept his gracious offer. We have but one business in this world. It is to strive to make us worthy of a better. Whatever this trial may cost us,-how long, how earnestly, how patiently soever,— through whatever difficulties,-by whatever toils we endeavour to obey and please our Maker, we are supported in them by this solid and never ceasing consolation, "that our labour is not in vain in the Lord." THE END. |